INVITE

??The Part 2 of the joint #InnoVarINVITE Final Conference is live! ??Today we will talk about innovations in variety testing with the focus on apple, foddergrass, wheat, sunflower, soybean, maize, potato, tomato, oilseedrape, and lucerne????????. ??Experts from both projects will present the key findings of their research and engage in a discussion with policymakers, the farming community and seed sector representatives on innovations aimed at enhancing sustainability in variety testing. ??Stay tuned for more insights! #varietytesting #DUS #VCU #seedmarketing EU Science, Research and Innovation EU Health and Food Safety H2020 InnoVar

The final conference of the EU-funded Horizon 2020 INVITE project, held on 10 December in Brussels, marked the successful conclusion of a 5.5-year journey dedicated to advancing innovations for plant variety testing in Europe. Organized jointly with the sister project funded under the same call, H2020 InnoVar, this event brought together researchers, government authorities, plant breeders, policymakers, and stakeholders to reflect on the achievements of both projects and discuss the future of plant breeding and agricultural sustainability. Organized by Arcadia International E.E.I.G. with the support of Euroseeds, the conference marks a milestone in the field of plant variety testing. Read more insights in our latest article. #varietytesting #varietyregistration #H2020 #RI #plantbreeding #genotyping #phenotyping #envirotyping #DUS #VCU #seedmarketing #sustainableagriculture #foodsecurity

?? Thank you very much to everyone who attended the #InnoVarINVITE Final Conference Part 2, organized by Arcadia International E.E.I.G. and hosted at the Flemish Government building in Brussels (courtesy of ILVO (Instituut voor Landbouw, Visserij- en Voedingsonderzoek)). ?? As we conclude our journey with INVITE, which spanned an incredible 5.5 years, we reflect on the tremendous progress and collaboration achieved. ? From the in-depth research to the innovative tools and methodologies developed, and the lasting connections forged within the research and stakeholder community, this project has provided a significant contribution to the future of variety testing in Europe. ? But the journey doesn’t end here. We look forward to seeing these innovations continue to grow and inspire future advancements within other projects! #varietytesting #varietyregistration #VCU #DUS #seedmarketing #researchandinnovation #Horizon2020

?? Wrapping up #InnoVarINVITE, INVITE Coordinator francois laurens delivered concluding remarks, highlighting the key achievements of the INVITE project and the input of InnoVar and INVITE towards the future of plant variety testing in Europe. INVITE's results: ?? Building a research-stakeholder community: Strengthening collaboration to support variety testing schemes. ?? Data structuring: High volumes of historical data collected, stored, and structured. ?? Database prototype: Developing a tool that can serve as a variety testing database. ?? Innovative tools & methods: Designed to accommodate Europe’s diverse systems, conditions, practices, and countries. ?? Cost-benefit assessment: Draft methodologies for assessing costs and benefits of individual innovations. ?? Collaboration: Forged strong links with other EU projects to ensure results are fully utilized. Both H2020 InnoVar and INVITE laid the groundwork for: ?? A robust community of experts driving progress ?? Practical steps towards harmonizing V(S)CU and DUS testing ?? Recommendations for organic variety testing ?? Resilience/sustainability assessment in V(S)CU ?? Next steps? Let’s keep the momentum and the community going to keep advancing variety testing in Europe for a more sustainable future! #varietytesting #VCU #DUS #seedmarketing #PRM

#InnoVarINVITE ???The event featured a stakeholder panel discussion about the future of plant variety testing in Europe, moderated by Jean-Paul Judson, NOWMORE. ??We had a pleasure to hear various perspectives from MEP Herbert Dorfmann, European People's Party; Philippe Lesigne, Bayer | Crop Science; Thor Kofoed, COPA COGECA; Jean Maison, Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO); Monika Messmer, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL; P?ivi Mannerkorpi, EU Health and Food Safety; francois laurens, INRAE, Coordinator INVITE and Lisa Black, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Coordinator InnoVar. ?Key highlights: ?? Future-proof legislation: New PRM legislative proposal aims to balance innovation with sustainability, supporting resilience and adaptability in plant breeding. Flexibility and efficient systems are essential. "Plant breeding plays an important role and there is a lot of expectations. It is important to look not only at productivity, but at resilience of a variety, which can contribute to sustainability." P?ivi Mannerkorpi, EU Health and Food Safety. ?? Sustainability in variety testing: Farmers emphasize the need for sustainable traits in varieties: "When we choose a variety, we need to know how sustainable it is. Sustainability is very important in the new PRM legislation. It is difficult and expensive for vegetables, but it is important." Thor Kofoed, COPA COGECA. Breeders, however, are of the opinion that "breeding means sustainability. With projects like INVITE, we have to build on the momentum and the community to make sure there is an alignment on how we assess the sustainability characteristics to steer the innovation." Philippe Lesigne, Bayer | Crop Science. ?? Fast-tracking innovation: Faster breeding cycles and cost-efficient testing will help bring resilient varieties to market sooner. "The time and cost efficiency are very important to advance the system. We are happy that there are technologies ready to be implemented after the end of the porject."Jean Maison, Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO). ?? Global outlook: Sustainability isn’t just an EU priority - it's on the global agenda, requiring innovative, unified approaches. "The amount of complexities breeders have to deal with is increasing. We need to develop more types of varieties. We have to think how to use this project as a pilot one, to have better understanding of new characteristics that need to be evaluated." Philippe Lesigne, Bayer | Crop Science. ?? Organic agriculture: "Organic varieties can't be bred with any techniques that do not correspond to the principles of the organic farming. The new plant reproductive material legislation offers improved harmonisation across the EU and more flexibility for biodiversity approaches." Monika Messmer, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL. ?? Collaboration is key: Dialogue among researchers, breeders and examination offices are necessary to foster alignment on variety registration.

?? MEP Herbert Dorfmann, European People's Party, gave a keynote speech about the revision of the seed marketing (PRM) legislation, emphasizing that over the past 5 years, sustainability in farming has improved. However, while sustainability is vital, so is ensuring we can produce enough food. ??? "Agriculture has never been as crucial as it is today, given the global challenges we face. It's not just about feeding people—it's a matter of strategic importance. The availability of food, once taken for granted, is now a key international issue." #sustainableagriculture #seedmarketing

#InnoVarINVITE ??Variety testing optimization for evaluation of performance and resilience ??This session explored statistical analysis of VCU trials, with a focus on precision and trends using classical mixed model analyses, as well as integrating marker and environmental data for improved assessments. ??Environmental characterization of European VCU trials was discussed to optimize variety evaluations under current and future agro-environmental conditions. Sustainability evaluation methods for cereals were also shared. ??Decision-support tools featured included crop simulations for cultivar selection in sunflower and variety recommendations using high performance and low risk categorisations. #VCU #varietytesting #sustainableagriculture EU Health and Food Safety EU Science, Research and Innovation Wageningen University & Research GEVES INRAE University of Hohenheim Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute ADAS H2020 InnoVar

#InnoVarINVITE ??Time for a poster session! All the posters will be made available on our website - stay tuned! ?????? https://lnkd.in/e2-zYrnW #varietytesting #VCU #DUS? H2020 InnoVar

#InnoVarINVITE ?? Innovations in phenotyping ??This session explored the research on phenotyping technologies, showcasing diverse approaches to improve phenotyping efficiency and precision for various crops. ??The session featured advancements like the development of a mobile application for assessing fruit characteristics in tomatoes and the use of drones for estimating plant height and biomass in ryegrass. ??The event participants have also gotten an overview of innovative tools for DUS testing in wheat and thermal imaging for drought stress detection in sunflower. #phenotyping #sustainableagriculture #VCU #DUS Wageningen University & Research GEVES ILVO (Instituut voor Landbouw, Visserij- en Voedingsonderzoek) TystofteFonden/TystofteFoundation fondsen INRAE Agroscope H2020 InnoVar

#InnoVarINVITE ??Exploring Innovations in genotyping ??This session delved into the latest advancements in genotyping technologies, covering trait-specific markers in tomatoes, reference collection in heterogeneous crops + management, and epigenetic marks for sport identification. ??The session has also featured talks on genotyping and mapping key traits in maize, as well as the reduction of reference collections and identifying critical loci and alleles for improved variety testing and registration processes. #genotyping #sustainableagriculture #plantscience #varietytesting #DUS #VCU University of Hohenheim Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) GEVES Teagasc IRTA Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics - CRAG Università di Bologna H2020 InnoVar